Comparison on Huckfinn and the Prince and the Pauper

Lauren Schlegel
Mrs. Carino
English 10 Accel
31 October 2011
The Prince, the Pauper, and Huckleberry Finn Samuel Langhorne Clemens was mostly known by Mark Twain his pen name. He spent the majority of his life on writing and public speaking. Twain is an exceptional writer. One can tell this by how he evokes emotion thorough his writing and catches people’s attention. He does this through different elements in his writing. In, The Prince and the Pauper, and, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark twain showed extraordinary theme, imagery, and symbolism. In the two twain books, the theme that stands out is that if the government or persons in authority make bad decisions, then the people will be pushed away. This is shown in Huck Finn when the Widow Douglas and the Judge looked after Huck. He becomes very unhappy and restless because they try to keep him too cooped up. His father came and took money from Huck just to get drunk. He was the kind of person to lie and say he was a changed man just to get money to drink. The Widow Douglas and the Judge did not protect him enough, so eventually his father took him from Widow Douglas and makes Huck live in the cabin in the woods. His father stops him from getting a good education and still gets drunk quite often. He acts abusively towards Huck when he is under the influence and treats him very badly. Being in such a bad situation drives Huck to fake his death and run away. If Pap, the person of authority in the situation, would have been a better person and would have made better decisions, Huck Finn’s adventures would have been much different because he probably would have never felt the need to run away. In, The Prince and the Pauper, Edward is surrounded by itinerants who tell stories about people who were treated very unjustly by the government and the people who carry out the laws. These people are complaining due to their unhappiness and discontent with the government. At first it is hard for Edward to even believe that such things would happen. Then when Edward himself gets thrown in jail, he confirms to himself just how bad the conditions are. These unfair rules and horrible circumstances upset Prince Edward a great deal. He then knew how the people felt and wanted to take action and change it. Mark Twain stands out as an excellent writer of vivid imagery. When the king was announced dead, Twain talks about the revel in the Guildhall being broken by a note from a bugle. Then, one can hear the messenger say how the king is dead and listen to the silence until everyone takes it in and begins to shout, “Long lives the King!” The dead silence makes one pause while reading, until they realize they must read on to break this silence. Again Twain’s imagery strikes when Prince Edward is watching the women be burned at the stake. He can hear the snapping and crackling of the sticks and see the blue smoke stream away on the wind just like watching a real fire. While on Jackson’s Island, in Huck Finn, Twain compares thunder to barrels rolling down stairs. One can hear the barrels “rumbling, grumbling, tumbling” down very long stairs and the hollow barrels make quite a noise. In addition, one can also smell the nice breeze that is cool, fresh, and sweet on account of the woods and flowers while next to the river or cringe at imagining the taste of the, “tough meat that's laid in a cupboard in a damp cellar all night and tastes like a hunk of old cold cannibal in the morning.” Imagery is one of Twain’s strong points. The river is a huge example of symbolism in Huck Finn. It has difficult parts in it and easy calm sections, just like life. It continuously flows and doesn’t wait for anymore, just like life. Along the river, Huck matures and grows as a person through his views and much more. While going through life, most people mature and develop. His adventures on the river are lessons that help him realize the childish manner of Tom Sawyer at the end. Huck Finn knows how Tom is being silly and at first just stands by, but by the end when Tom gets shot, Huck goes and gets a doctor for him because he knows it’s the smart thing to do. In, The Prince and the Pauper, the clothes hold a lot of symbolism. When wearing royal fabric, it makes the person look rich and with money comes power. With power, especially royal power, people could feel almost invincible. Power in a good person, can make that person want to do every good thing and make the whole world better. Tom wanted to erase all the debt the royal treasury had and pay the servants what the deserved. In these clothes, Tom gives Humphrey, a person he does not even know, lots of favors because he feels generous and on top of the world all because of what he is wearing. He has the power to do and say what he wants. Although symbolism is obvious in both of the books, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, seemed to have more symbols than, The Prince and the Pauper. The river is in the whole entire book while the clothes are just a part. The two symbols both change the plot through how the character acts and consequently leading to affect his decisions. Mark Twain’s theme, imagery, and symbolism are evident in both, The Prince and the Pauper, and, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His theme teaches one a lesson that is related to life, his imagery attaches one to the book, and his symbolism makes one wonder about the book. Mark twain, obviously, has the essentials to make him a fabulous writer. Add in Twain’s style and tone and be amazed!